A clear choice for the people of Aberdeen Donside

This is an important election for everyone across Aberdeen. I’m standing because I think it’s critical we have MSPs in Holyrood who can deliver on what matters to local people.

Now, more than ever, we need parliamentarians who know the local economy and will fight for it. I can do that. Through my 10 years working in oil and gas, I’ve built up the experience necessary to represent the workers and employers of Aberdeen in Holyrood.

If I am elected, Aberdeen will not be the SNP’s forgotten city any more. I won't let them get away with underfunding the city, its schools and NHS Grampian. We need MSPs who will speak up for our city, not just sit down and tow the nationalist line.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my website. I will update it as the campaign progresses, and you can check out my facebook site which has more recent updates.

28 Mar 2016

Plans to make the ARI a major trauma centre are under threat. The SNP have refused to confirm we'll see one here in the North East, raising the spectre of serious accidents being treated in Edinburgh or Glasgow. It's just another example of the central belt bias we've seen from this Scottish Government.

How can you help protect the ARI's future, and the quality of healthcare in Aberdeen?

1. Sign the petition below - it's already got over 700 signatures,

2. Let your friends on twitter and facebook know you care about the future of our hospital, using the hashtag #WeBackARI.

3. Make sure you send MSPs to Holyrood who will hold the SNP to account, not just bellow behind them on the back benches. Vote Scottish Labour in May.

8 Mar 2016

It's International Women's Day today. Working in Oil and Gas, over the years I've been to far too many strategy reviews, share fairs and conferences populated by solely by men. (Particularly balding middle aged ones like me!). Offshore, women only constitute 3.6% of the workforce.

There's been some improvements in recent years, as the graph below shows. Notably the introduction of single cabins offshore which have made it easier for women to get onto the platforms. Women would often get bumped because there was no other woman offshore for them to bunk with!

So what is to be done? I'm not sure quotas or positive discrimination are the answer. I've worked with some great women who would hate the idea that they'd get a job or a promotion on account of their gender.

I think the key as ever remains in attracting more women to the industry in the first place. We need to make sure that the female role models we have in the industry are getting into the schools, the universities, to talk about the sort of careers available.

And the politicians, we need to make sure that workplace discrimination legislation and maternity entitlements remain in place. I wouldn't be the first person to say staying in the EU helps ensure that!
I don't have all the answers though - far from it. Please let me know your suggestions on how we can get more women into Aberdeen's local industry and I'll do my best to push them.

29 Feb 2016

This morning in Glasgow, the Scottish Labour leader, Kezia Dugdale, made a speech outlining how SNP dishonesty on cuts is a dereliction of duty - and what our alternative plan to austerity is.

We have challenged the SNP again and again on why they won't protect education from cuts, rather than slashing it by 5.4%, according to the IPPR.

If elected as MSP, Scottish Labour colleagues and I would prioritise education because our nation’s economic prosperity depends on it. We cannot compete on low skills and low wages. On productivity the UK still ranks in the bottom half of industrialised nations – and Scotland lags behind the UK. We risk being left further behind in the global economic race. Improving productivity is an urgent national need.

As Kez outlined this morning: In our new powerful Scotland we can do things differently, we should do things differently and we must.

7 Feb 2016

As
Scottish Labour prepares for the election in May we know the kind of Scotland
we want to create, where everyone has a fair chance to play their part. We
already have some exciting ideas about what needs to be done but I know that across Aberdeen Donside there are people who have great ideas that could
make a big difference. I'd love to hear them!

The
Big Idea is our new initiative intended to open up the conversation. We want you to share your ideas with us because
together we can achieve more than we can alone and build a better Scotland.

17 Jan 2016

Last week, an SNP member of parliament reminded me exactly why I wanted to stand for Holyrood in the first place.

You've probably heard about it, perhaps you even saw it - the spectacle of a nationalist (who represents the North East of Scotland!) denying there was a crisis in Aberdeen's oil sector.

Clearly, the current Scottish Government have no idea about industry. Thousands of local people's jobs are on the line, yet their default position is to stick their heads in the sand.

It's not 'talking Scotland down' to admit there is a crisis, nor to remind the SNP of the folly of predicting ever increasing oil prices. It's called being a realist, a pragmatist.

As we approach May's election, I'd ask you to think about the sort of person you want representing you in Holyrood. With me as your MSP, you'd get experience outside of politics, on the big issues like jobs and the local economy.

I hope to publish my ideas, my plans for support for our local industry soon. In the mean time, if you have any suggestions you'd like the politicians to consider, please get in touch.